BEIJING, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- The United States' Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov shone in the free skating to clinch the pairs title at the ISU Figure Skating Four Continents Championships here on Saturday.
Efimova and Mitrofanov led the free skating with 133.49 points to claim a comeback victory after having finished third in Thursday's short program. The pair collected 205.34 points to clinch gold.
"This competition, particularly today, was very interesting. We know how tight the competition could be, which made it even more special with a little pressure. I felt that everyone was doing their best. What is more valuable is how we handled the pressure, and we are proud of ourselves," said Efimova, 26.
2022 Winter Olympic champions Sui Wenjing and Han Cong of China suffered injuries and eventually scored a total of 200.99 points to take silver. Japan's Yuna Nagaoka and Sumitada Moriguchi seized bronze with 197.46 points, 1.17 points ahead of fourth-placed Chinese pair Zhang Jiaxuan and Huang Yihang.
"This might be my last Four Continents journey. We were close to the top of the podium but fell short," said Han. "Fortunately, we still have time to deal with our injuries before the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics."
In the men's short program, Japanese skaters topped the field as Kao Miura led with 98.59 points, 1.40 points ahead of Kazuki Tomono, while Sota Yamamoto scored 94.68 points to rank third.
China's Jin Boyang, Chen Yudong and Peng Zhiming are fifth, 10th and 13th respectively.
The men's title will be decided on Sunday, the last competition day of the four-day tournament. ■
